Day 105: Sugar, Fat, Salt

I haven't exactly been thrilled with my weekly group meetings on this diet plan.  I feel like the meetings are geared more towards basic nutrition facts than helping us get through this difficult eating plan.  It also never seems to touch on any sort of behavioral issues.  I have a real issue with that since a majority of people eat too much, not because they don't know what they should be eating, but because they can't control their eating.  There's some sort of mental block.  And helping dieters get over that part of the hurdle is a major part of the puzzle that isn't addressed in this program.

However, I will say I was fascinated by today's program.  We listened to an Authors@Google lecture from
David Kessler.  He's the author of The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite.  The hour long lecture is basically a synopsis of his book.  It covers how America's food industry uses sugar, fat and salt to essentially get Americans addicted to food.  Kessler's belief is that it's not a matter of willpower, our eating behavior has been conditioned.

Americans are heavier than ever.  Weights have steadily increased in the past 50 years.   Obesity rates are twice what they were in the 1970's. In the 1960's the average male weighed 168 pounds ... now the average is 180.  For women it's 143/155.  We also gain more over a lifetime than we have in the past.  We start out larger and end up even larger.

There are many reasons why this happens.  Kessler's view is that it has to do with what he calls "Conditioned Hypereating" ... which is a combination of how food, advertising and and lifestyle changes have short-circuited the body's self-regulating mechanisms which then ends up with reward-driven eating. A quote from Kessler "The most effective rewards are those that change the way we feel".  Food certainly does that. Highly palatable foods activate the reward centers in the brain which then leads to more overeating.

Kessler says the desire to eat (non-stop) is due to the presence of a combination of sugar, fat and salt.  In addition, he says', in the presence of a varied and limitless diet people tend to eat excessively.  Heck, look at how our portion sizes have grown in the past 30 years.  Super-size me, anyone?

He also says the power of food comes from the ability to anticipate the food.  To counteract this, look for your food cues.  What makes you eat?  What is your stimulus?

What you can do:

Reduce Your Chance of Being Stimulated:

• Avoid Eating Cues
• Avoid Being Primed (set up to eat)
• Avoid Being Deprived

Reduce Power of Stimulus:

• Develop Rules for Eating
• Plan/Structure your Eating

Change Value of Stimulus:

• Critical Perceptual Shift (prevent yourself from being manipulated)
• Alternate Rewards (instead of food)